Preview — The Score
by Richard Stark

It was an impossible crime: knock off an entire North Dakota town called Copper Canyon—clean out the plant payroll, both banks, and all the stores in one night. Parker called it "science fiction," but with the right men (a score of them), he could figure it out to the last detail. It could work. If the men behaved like pros, cool and smart; if they didn't get impatient, st

It was an impossible crime: knock off an entire North Dakota town called Copper Canyon—clean out the plant payroll, both banks, and all the stores in one night. Parker called it "science fiction," but with the right men (a score of them), he could figure it out to the last detail. It could work. If the men behaved like pros, cool and smart; if they didn't get impatient, start chasing skirts, or decide to take the opportunity to settle secret old scores, they just might pull it off.

Community Reviews

Well, let's see here. There's been a lot of Richard Stark hoopla around our little corner of Goodreads lately, and I am proud to offer this review as minor corrective to the unbridled enthusiasms unleashed herein. Despite whatever I may say in the course of this review that might lead you to believe otherwise, I did actually enjoy this book. But it is slight, insubstantial, and clunky at times. I'd like to say, with some slippage in the analogy, that it's the equivalent of watching one of thoseWell, let's see here. There's been a lot of Richard Stark hoopla around our little corner of Goodreads lately, and I am proud to offer this review as minor corrective to the unbridled enthusiasms unleashed herein. Despite whatever I may say in the course of this review that might lead you to believe otherwise, I did actually enjoy this book. But it is slight, insubstantial, and clunky at times. I'd like to say, with some slippage in the analogy, that it's the equivalent of watching one of those women-in-peril television movies that Lifetime rebroadcasts. They're kind of dumb and pointless and obvious, but the fact of the matter is that at the end of the two hours you've somehow sat on your ass and watched the whole damn thing, so it must have been successful in some important sense. (This is an especially noteworthy success—for me, at least—since not even the big-budget, much-loved Inception achieved it.) Despite the fact that the TV movies are often poorly-executed and have all their plot points transmitted via smoke signals from miles off, I stick around to see if psychotic stalker Jack Wagner manages to rape Judith Light in an empty hockey arena or to find out if the vindictive blonde sex-kitten in Shannen Doherty's college rock band murders her in retaliation for Doherty beating her in a talent contest when they were kids.

Richard Stark—at least in The Score—is not really what I would call a very good writer. And Richard Stark's editor is not what I would call a very good editor. Witness this passage:

The prowl car was a Ford, two years old, painted light green and white, with Police written in large letters on the doors and hood and trunk. The dashboard lights were green, and there was a small red dot of light, like a ruby, on the radio.

I don't know about you, but I am kind of disappointed that Stark didn't tell us whether the upholstery was contrast stitched or whether the heater vents were set to floor or bi-level. (Before you start second-guessing, none of the details Stark reports RE: the police car is relevant to anything in the book. For instance, the small red dot of light does not later blind a would-be assassin—or some other comparable hijinks. These used car ads are just written up by Stark, inserted into the text, and never referred to again.)

There is really no psychological depth in this book whatsoever. People merely do things and say things. Occasionally things they say allude to a hypothetical human emotion or a living, breathing subjectivity, but more often than not these allusions are of the explicitly useless varieties. (In one scene, for example, two accomplished safe 'juggers' argue about whether to blow up the safes or drill them. The fact that preferences exist seems to indicate that they are not wholly automatons. This is encouraging.) There is one character—named Grofield—who likes to quote Shakespeare and has a lot more personality than the rest, but still... it's only a relative difference and wouldn't count for much in any other book.

Another problem with Stark's writing style (at least in this outing) is that he doesn't have much sense of pacing and narrative momentum. In the first half of the novel, we hear the characters discuss their plans for a heist in specific detail. And in the second half of the novel, we see the characters actually execute this same plan, for the most part successfully and in keeping with the plan (until near the end). This redundancy seems to violate a commandment of Writing 101 to me. If I were Stark's teacher, I would have told him merely to explain the big picture of the heist at the beginning and then allow us to see the plan as it unfolds. (Again, a good editor probably should have edified him. But I keep forgetting that this is genre fiction; devoted fans probably find these tropes and weaknesses essential to the 'comfort food' quality of the books.)

Anyway... would you believe I still kind of enjoyed the book? It was pretty dumb, but I enjoyed it. It would be ideal for a short plane ride or a long wait in the doctor's office where the other reading options are Parenting and Golf Digest magazines....more

a small town in north dakota sits deep in a narrow valley. a single road the only way in or out. parker and eleven men head down at midnight and methodically take over the tiny police department then the fire department then the phone switchboard. once the town's defenses have been neutralized and communication is cut off from the outside world, the team knocks over the town's two banks, the jewelry store, and then robs the town's entire payroll. a heist to the extreme! forget one bank, one stora small town in north dakota sits deep in a narrow valley. a single road the only way in or out. parker and eleven men head down at midnight and methodically take over the tiny police department then the fire department then the phone switchboard. once the town's defenses have been neutralized and communication is cut off from the outside world, the team knocks over the town's two banks, the jewelry store, and then robs the town's entire payroll. a heist to the extreme! forget one bank, one store, one person, one job... let's do an entire town in a single night! that's the score. and it's terrific. spare and cold and angry and intelligent -- and there are some good women in there, too: one trashy, one sweet, both willing to toss it all away for a life of adventure and crime and hard-as-rocks men.

fleshy asked, after my review of slayground, why, with such a rapturous review, did i only slap it with four stars? well, i think it is a 4 star book but the score might very well be a 5. but i'm still giving it 4. lemme explain.

charles ardai, in his introduction, writes:

"Reading the Parker novels is a little like watching a jazz musician at work. The performance begins with a familiar melody, the unadorned restatement of a theme, but then the performer cuts loose, interpreting, elaborating, inverting, transforming, improvising.

At a certain level of abstraction, of course, the Parker novels are all the same... and yet, Stark somehow manages to assemble these elements into a thoroughly new book. Bix Biederbecke famously said he never played a solo the same way twice, and neither did Stark. It may be the same song each time, but all the notes are different."

yup. stark works off a familiar template and it's great: he usually begins with the second act, as the action is already moving along, and then explains all we really need to know from the first act along the way. we then watch parker create and interact with his team, intellectually figure out how best to do 'the job', and then it all goes into effect and we watch parker improvise as shit falls apart and/or goes wrong.

now i believe the score to be, on one level, a perfect little crime book. but it definitely feels a part of something larger: as if this individual book is just one chapter in 'the life of parker' -- analogous to, say, updike's rabbit stories in which the individual novels might deserve 3 or 4 stars, but taken as a whole, it's an undeniable fiver. so, maybe i judge too harshly. maybe a five star book doesn't need to be a giant epic encompassing and totaling much more than the sum of its parts... who knows? who cares? i know parker wouldn't. he'd grunt and walk away.

An amateur named Edgars hires Parker, Grofield, and ten others to help him with an outlandish plan: to rob an entire North Dakota town! Things go smoothly until it turns out Edgars has ideas of his own...

After reading five of the Parker novels, I figured out why love them so much. It's two aspects: Parker's superb ability to plan heists and trying to figure out how the inevitable double cross is going to go when it happens. The Score illustrates this nicely. As usual, Parker's cruel professionalAn amateur named Edgars hires Parker, Grofield, and ten others to help him with an outlandish plan: to rob an entire North Dakota town! Things go smoothly until it turns out Edgars has ideas of his own...

After reading five of the Parker novels, I figured out why love them so much. It's two aspects: Parker's superb ability to plan heists and trying to figure out how the inevitable double cross is going to go when it happens. The Score illustrates this nicely. As usual, Parker's cruel professionalism drives the story. Even though you know Edgars is going to be a problem, you have no idea how big of a problem he'll be until the big reveal.

The first place Parker heads to in The Hunter when he gets to New York City to seek revenge on being double-crossed and beginning Stark's series of novels is the Wall Street area. The Score's basic premise is a group of criminals go to a small factory town in North Dakota with the purpose of robbing every business in town of all it's money during one night. Nowhere in the book is it ever mentioned what will be left of the town after Parker and his friends steal all of the payroll money from theThe first place Parker heads to in The Hunter when he gets to New York City to seek revenge on being double-crossed and beginning Stark's series of novels is the Wall Street area. The Score's basic premise is a group of criminals go to a small factory town in North Dakota with the purpose of robbing every business in town of all it's money during one night. Nowhere in the book is it ever mentioned what will be left of the town after Parker and his friends steal all of the payroll money from the factory, make off with all the money from the vaults of the town's two banks and steal all the money on hand from every other store on the town's main street. One could get the idea that insurance companies will ante up for the losses, or one could see this as Parker orchestrating a job that leaves one small town destroyed.

I kind of like to think that the latter is what happened. And in that case I like the reading of this book as an analogy to Wall Street fucking over Main Street (to borrow simple minded contemporary slogans), or as a no less criminal or unethical version of a Wall Street's Gordan Gecko dismantling of large groups of peoples lives in order to feed his greed (which is always good, but in Parker's world Gecko-ian greed would probably led to the early death of the man whose eyes are bigger than his stomach). This can be seen as the coast (because all the major players on Parkers side seem to come from the East Coast) pissing all over the poor little fly-over states.

I loved the idea of a whole town being robbed. One of the problems with the book was that it got a little clunky with so many characters moving around in so short of a book, and a lot of the characters kind of blended into a blob of a cookie-cutter professional criminal who is good at his job but doesn't have any other defining characteristics. But, I think Stark might have been using this book to populate Parker's criminal world with some names and faces that he will be able to use in future books, sort of like he did in some of the side stories of The Outfit. This book was almost as much fun as The Outfit but with not nearly as many crimes and heists being pulled in the Score it just doesn't quite live up to book number 3.

Next up, The Jugger, where I'll probably write more about Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina than the actual book. ...more

When Parker first hears about the plan to loot all of Copper Canyon, he thinks it’s insane. How can you rob an entire city? However, when he sees the details and realizes that this is an isolated town that could be completely cut off and it’s police force neutralized, Parker starts thinking that it just might be possible, if he can find the right men for the job.

A solid crew is put together, a plan developed, and even the amateur who came up with the idea, Edgars, seems smart and willing to letWhen Parker first hears about the plan to loot all of Copper Canyon, he thinks it’s insane. How can you rob an entire city? However, when he sees the details and realizes that this is an isolated town that could be completely cut off and it’s police force neutralized, Parker starts thinking that it just might be possible, if he can find the right men for the job.

A solid crew is put together, a plan developed, and even the amateur who came up with the idea, Edgars, seems smart and willing to let Parker call the shots. Parker is about to pull off one of the boldest heists of his career. Of course, it’s never that easy.

Stark (a/k/a Westlake) makes what seems like an over-the-top plot of a gang of thieves taking over a town to crack multiple safes in one night seem feasible. I loved the plotting and preparations for this job, and the complications thrown at Parker in this one are surprising.

This book also introduced another thief, Grofield, who would star in several other Stark novels. Where Parker is the emotionless professional, Grofield is a chatty actor who funds his career with his robberies. An increasingly exasperated Parker is always telling Grofield to shut up, and his character adds a fresh and fun dynamic to the caper....more

I think I've hit my limit of Parker books for now. The formula was a bit too predictable, although this was his most ambitious job yet. Unfortunately, I guessed most of the high points pretty much from the beginning. Still, the details were fun to follow & Parker is a wonderful anti-hero. While I have #6, I'm missing the odd numbers after that through #12. I'll see if I can't get them for another Parker marathon at another time.

Parker, bored with hanging around at the beach, decides to check out another larcenous job opportunity, but there's something hinky about the guy organizing the whole thing. Against his better judgement, Parker deals in because the payoff could be big. This time Parker and the gang knock off a whole town! But you know what happens when things seem to go too smoothly...

I've read Parker #1, #3 and now #5. You'd think I was hitting all the odd ones first. Nah. That's just what my local library hasParker, bored with hanging around at the beach, decides to check out another larcenous job opportunity, but there's something hinky about the guy organizing the whole thing. Against his better judgement, Parker deals in because the payoff could be big. This time Parker and the gang knock off a whole town! But you know what happens when things seem to go too smoothly...

I've read Parker #1, #3 and now #5. You'd think I was hitting all the odd ones first. Nah. That's just what my local library has readily available without placing a reservation for a specific copy. Doesn't matter, though. I'll catch up on them all, but I am really digging this series now and even get a real sense of continuity, even though I skipped a couple. Salsa, whom I last saw in The Outfit (and for some reason I imagine as looking like Henry Silva) is in on this job. Handy, also appearing in The Outfit has a brief mention. So I am getting the sense of continuity and world-building that makes me feel very comfortable and looking forward to each next volume. Other new-to-me characters are introduced as well, each with a distinct and amusing personality.

Stark's (Westlake's) writing is as crisp as a freshly printed hundred-dollar bill, making these novel eminently readable. Like Parker himself, there is nothing unnecessary or extraneous. This is something of a rarity, I find, among many of the novels of today that are often five or six-hundred pages long. I sometimes wonder if the art of economical language has been lost.

And Parker, of course, is a great character. He is completely, uncompromisingly amoral; the epitome of the practical man. There was a moment when I thought Parker was getting a little soft, but later learned that he was just being practical. While he is goal-oriented when a job is on, afterward he's sexually ravenous and never seems to have any trouble finding someone to release some tension with. He is totally independent, outside the system. No ties, no obligations. It occurred to me that this is perfect material for my mid-life crisis. I don't have enough money to buy a red sports car. I'm not successful enough to mess around with an age-inappropriate girlfriend. I don't need a toupee (yet). If one is going to hit a mid-life crisis one could certainly do worse than a Parker novel....more

This best comparison for this book is Ocean's Eleven, if it were more hardboiled than flashy and the goal was to steal an entire town instead of a casino. Yes, you read that right, an entire town -- not the town's bank, jewelry store, or mining payroll, but all of them simultaneously. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the first Parker book I have read -- in fact, it is the first I have read by author Richard Stark/Donald Westlake. I enjoyed reading about Parker and would definitely read anothThis best comparison for this book is Ocean's Eleven, if it were more hardboiled than flashy and the goal was to steal an entire town instead of a casino. Yes, you read that right, an entire town -- not the town's bank, jewelry store, or mining payroll, but all of them simultaneously. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the first Parker book I have read -- in fact, it is the first I have read by author Richard Stark/Donald Westlake. I enjoyed reading about Parker and would definitely read another of his heist adventures....more

I've been a long fan of Richard Stark's (aka Donald Westlake) hardboiled Parker the thief series. THE SCORE is set in a boxed-in Western town where Parker and a large gang hit several banks and the mine's payroll at once. A clever twist is dropped into the last part. Parker is like Mr. Spock, all business and no time for humor or fools. One of the gang members, Alan Grofield, appears later in LEMONS NEVER LIE published by Hard Case Crime.

This wasn’t as good as some of the others in the series, but it was ok. I’m intrigued with Parker, and that keeps me reading.

Edgars has an idea for stealing from several businesses at the same time in a North Dakota town. He tells a guy who brings in Parker to plan and run it. It will require 12 to 20 guys.

The ending was weak. Things felt hanging and not wrapped up well. I would have liked a different ending for some of the good guys wWeak 3 stars. There wasn’t enough suspense or the unexpected.

This wasn’t as good as some of the others in the series, but it was ok. I’m intrigued with Parker, and that keeps me reading.

Edgars has an idea for stealing from several businesses at the same time in a North Dakota town. He tells a guy who brings in Parker to plan and run it. It will require 12 to 20 guys.

The ending was weak. Things felt hanging and not wrapped up well. I would have liked a different ending for some of the good guys who were victims. And I wanted something really bad to happen to Edgars. What happened to him was not painful enough.

The narrator Stephen R. Thorne was good, but I wish he had a rougher, darker or more menacing voice for Parker. His Parker voice was too clean cut and normal sounding.

THE SERIES:This is book 5 in the 24 book series. These stories are about bad guys. They rob. They kill. They’re smart. Most don’t go to jail. Parker is the main bad guy, a brilliant strategist. He partners with different guys for different jobs in each book.

If you are new to the series, I suggest reading the first three and then choose among the rest. A few should be read in order since characters continue in a sequel fashion. Those are listed below (with my star ratings). The rest can be read as stand alones.

The first three books in order: 4 stars. The Hunter (Point Blank movie with Lee Marvin 1967) (Payback movie with Mel Gibson)3 ½ stars. The Man with the Getaway Face (The Steel Hit)4 stars. The Outfit.

I have now read six of Stark's Parker novels, for the most part following their publication chronology.

This is the weakest I've read, but that said, it remains a pleasure to read from beginning to end. Most of the characters are lightly sketched, but we get to see more of how Parker operates in the midst of a complex crime. He puts victims at ease by learning and using their first names before they are tied up and gagged. That's a nice touch. When a not-to-bright colleague brings a young woman iI have now read six of Stark's Parker novels, for the most part following their publication chronology.

This is the weakest I've read, but that said, it remains a pleasure to read from beginning to end. Most of the characters are lightly sketched, but we get to see more of how Parker operates in the midst of a complex crime. He puts victims at ease by learning and using their first names before they are tied up and gagged. That's a nice touch. When a not-to-bright colleague brings a young woman into the gang, he gets to know her rather than doing the logical thing and killing her outright. He decides she's all right, which means she can do no real damage. And he gives her good advice about her new boyfriend.

"Grofield'll be in jail in five years...Because he's impulsive. He's smart, but he doesn't always act smart. Also, he doesn't pay his income tax.Also he spends too loose and works too often."

Stark has another series of books about this Grofield character. I look forward to those as well....more

This Parker gets five stars because of the description of the methodical techniques described in pulling off the perfect score. Like with other Parker novels he is almost thwarted by those unknown variables that seem to crop up in the execution of any job. But Parker is the consummate professional at his craft, which is always a pleasure to read about.

Master thief and anti-hero Parker is getting antsy and bored. So when the call comes offering him a chance to head up to Jersey City to hear about a potential job he takes it. And what a job it is - the plan is to immobilize an entire small North Dakota town and rob it blind. Even for somebody like Parker, who has ice water in his veins, this is an audacious plan. Can a dozen men really take out an entire town and get away with the loot? This was another exciting fast-paced Parker adventure, StaMaster thief and anti-hero Parker is getting antsy and bored. So when the call comes offering him a chance to head up to Jersey City to hear about a potential job he takes it. And what a job it is - the plan is to immobilize an entire small North Dakota town and rob it blind. Even for somebody like Parker, who has ice water in his veins, this is an audacious plan. Can a dozen men really take out an entire town and get away with the loot? This was another exciting fast-paced Parker adventure, Stark (aka Donald Wastlake) takes us through the planning, the heist and then the moment it all goes pear-shaped. Parker is such a refreshing character because he has no pretenses or morals that get in the way of the crackling plot. The plot is fast paced and the dialogue is sharp and fun. It's easy to see how the series lasted as long as it did, with the wealth of detail and Stark's mastery of the form....more

Another outing in Parker land and it involves of course a robbery as expected. The scale of the robbery this time makes the book an original. An amateur hires Parker and some of his colleagues to rob an entire town! As this is quite an concept it takes a larger crew as usual to pull this off. And while there still is a big unexpected surprise at the end it is Parkers' professionalism that saves the payday.

Another very strong tale from the Parker series as written by Richard Stark / Donald E. WesAnother outing in Parker land and it involves of course a robbery as expected. The scale of the robbery this time makes the book an original. An amateur hires Parker and some of his colleagues to rob an entire town! As this is quite an concept it takes a larger crew as usual to pull this off. And while there still is a big unexpected surprise at the end it is Parkers' professionalism that saves the payday.

Another very strong tale from the Parker series as written by Richard Stark / Donald E. Westlake. And once again it does not fail to entertain the reader even if Parkers anti-hero status still does make him the most sympathetic character.

Parker was bored when he got the call from his broker for a new job. He didn't like it from the start. An amateur named Edgars brought the deal. A small town in a box canyon, one way in and out, a highway patrol station on the main road by that one way.

He was gradually convinced. A small town with a curfew and a tiny police force. Two banks, a mine with a substantial payroll, jewelry stores. Hit it late at night while everyone was in bed, only a handful of people to deal with.

It would take a larParker was bored when he got the call from his broker for a new job. He didn't like it from the start. An amateur named Edgars brought the deal. A small town in a box canyon, one way in and out, a highway patrol station on the main road by that one way.

He was gradually convinced. A small town with a curfew and a tiny police force. Two banks, a mine with a substantial payroll, jewelry stores. Hit it late at night while everyone was in bed, only a handful of people to deal with.

It would take a larger group than normal, eleven after the planning, to cover everything and everybody. Minimum of $250,000 total, likely more.

Parker suspected something was up with Edgars, but he didn't know the man had an agenda different from the rest of the group!...more

This is the original hard boiled tough guy. Stark (Westlake writing as Stark) boils the essence of a smart no-nonsense tough guy down from the work of the greats that wrote detective and crime fiction before him, and created Parker. Forget the movies you may have seen - be they timeless classics or modern dreck - and do yourself a favor and read these. If you like crime fiction you have to check these books out. The Chicago Press has re-released them in sharp stylish new paperbacks that are inexThis is the original hard boiled tough guy. Stark (Westlake writing as Stark) boils the essence of a smart no-nonsense tough guy down from the work of the greats that wrote detective and crime fiction before him, and created Parker. Forget the movies you may have seen - be they timeless classics or modern dreck - and do yourself a favor and read these. If you like crime fiction you have to check these books out. The Chicago Press has re-released them in sharp stylish new paperbacks that are inexpensive and look great. Perfect reading for a single afternoon: they are short, fun and really pop. They are like Pringles: I bet you can't read just one....more

I am embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Richard Stark, and only recently discovered he is a pseudonym for Don Westlake. I have read everything written by Dashiel Hammett, Raymond Chandler, John D. MacDonald, Ross Macdonald - and missed Stark entirely. I must not have been paying very close attention.

Stark's prose is every bit as tough and gritty as all of them. His Parker character doesn't take his hat off to nobody - not even Phillip Marlowe.

This is noir at its best. No question.

NowI am embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Richard Stark, and only recently discovered he is a pseudonym for Don Westlake. I have read everything written by Dashiel Hammett, Raymond Chandler, John D. MacDonald, Ross Macdonald - and missed Stark entirely. I must not have been paying very close attention.

Stark's prose is every bit as tough and gritty as all of them. His Parker character doesn't take his hat off to nobody - not even Phillip Marlowe.

Parker works - with eleven other professionals - his most audacious theft yet, a town-wide multiple target job. As in previous Parker novels, Stark's prose is blunt, cool-toned and streamlined, with no wasted words. As always, there are character-based complications, all of which make the writing more entertaining. Worth owning, this.

Followed by The Jugger.

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The resulting film, Pillaged, was released stateside on November 15, 1967. Alain Cavalier directed and co-scripted the film. Claude SautetParker works - with eleven other professionals - his most audacious theft yet, a town-wide multiple target job. As in previous Parker novels, Stark's prose is blunt, cool-toned and streamlined, with no wasted words. As always, there are character-based complications, all of which make the writing more entertaining. Worth owning, this.

Followed by The Jugger.

#

The resulting film, Pillaged, was released stateside on November 15, 1967. Alain Cavalier directed and co-scripted the film. Claude Sautet was his co-screenwriter.

The Parker novels are tremendous. And well worth the attention you give them. Even if this is not your genre, these books are such good examples of the genre that being well-rounded means reading at least one of them.

There is no other character in literature like Parker. So many other characters are derivative of Parker, that I feel like you really get something from reading it in the purest form. I think it was Stephen King who said that these books constitute a genre unto themselves. But, whoeThe Parker novels are tremendous. And well worth the attention you give them. Even if this is not your genre, these books are such good examples of the genre that being well-rounded means reading at least one of them.

There is no other character in literature like Parker. So many other characters are derivative of Parker, that I feel like you really get something from reading it in the purest form. I think it was Stephen King who said that these books constitute a genre unto themselves. But, whoever said it. It's true.

I think Stark handles violence better than just about anybody. His treatment is spare, brutal and beautiful. Not stupid, not Hollywood, but real, useful and damned good writing.

For me, the theme that ties all of these books together is Professionalism. Sure, Parker revenges himself on those who wrong him, but each tale is bigger (or more nebulous) than a simple conception right and wrong will contain. There aren't good guys and bad guys. There are professionals and amateurs. And bad things happen to amateurs.

Westlake was a pro's pro. He wrote over 100 books in his career. And I like to think that these books are a commentary on a world of dilettantes and half-asses. It's not an Atlas Shrugged kind of thing, it's more of an internal, you live to a code. ...more

In The Score, Richard Stark plays to the greatest strength of the Parker series: His ability to imagine, in fascinating and believable detail, the working life of a professional thief. The narrative focuses tightly on the planning, execution, and immediate aftermath of Parker leading a gang of men into Copper Canyon, North Dakota, to rob the town--or at least as much of the town as is worth robbing. Of the first five Parker novels, The Score is the purest and most self-assured.

Reading the Parker novels in sequence, I finally hit #5, The Score. The first four were great, culminating in the 4th, The Mourner. For me, that one was the best. Then I hit this one. I had a hard time finishing it.

Honestly, I was bored. I think there are several reasons for this, the first being the quality of the first four. Those worked so well they had set up an expectation that novel #5 just didn’t meet.

It’s also partly because those books were, in a sense, a quartet. The first, The Hunter,Reading the Parker novels in sequence, I finally hit #5, The Score. The first four were great, culminating in the 4th, The Mourner. For me, that one was the best. Then I hit this one. I had a hard time finishing it.

Honestly, I was bored. I think there are several reasons for this, the first being the quality of the first four. Those worked so well they had set up an expectation that novel #5 just didn’t meet.

It’s also partly because those books were, in a sense, a quartet. The first, The Hunter, set up a series of threads that carried on and through and resolved in the three that followed (except for those elements resolved within The Hunter.)

The Score had no threads to pick up on. It starts cold for the most part and doesn’t do a particularly good job of setting up motivation. Yes, Parker needs money and heists are what he does when he needs to top up his accounts, and the heist is of a kind that eventually becomes intriguing for him due to its ballsy nature, but there isn’t really any emotional motivation – not like the earlier ones had, such as revenge. And let’s face it, The Hunter is a revenge book, as are the three that followed, though to a lesser extent.

Without that emotional motivation, The Score falls back on one of the Stark/Westlake strong points, process. But it’s all process, until we get to the final third of the book. Capers are great reads but the caper’s procedure alone soon makes for a tedious story.

The final third seems to start to throw out new strands for later books, though not having read them I don’t know that this is so. An example would be the woman who eventually becomes the girlfriend of one of the guys in on the heist. And I gather Grofield would end up in three of his own books.

It’s in this final third the book starts becoming more interesting, partly because new threads begin appearing, and partly because the process business is finally behind us and we get to see what the deal is with the Edgars character.

But overall, the book is so focused on the mechanics of the caper it drags and drags. Though having read five of these books now, I guess it’s to be expected that one would fall short. So now I’m off to #6, The Jugger ......more

Read this yesterday on a flight to Grande Prairie, Alberta and then wished that I'd read it on the flight out of GP instead. The descriptions of a small ND town in the 1960s so ably fit the look of northern Alberta today that I found myself wondering what it would take to knock over the whole place. I liked this one a lot, but wished he'd pushed harder the theme of the girl at the hideout and the problems that can arise from such situations. All we got was the tease

Is there such a thing as a bad Parker novel? They all range from great to Brett Hart's excellence of execution kind of good. THE SCORE is more of a display of literary hardboiled power than a novel, but holy...is it AWESOME or what? A dozen professional thieves, an impossible job to pull (robbing an entire town) and our favourite obsessive compulsive crazy person/bank robber, feeling the call of the muse. No outward grudges or anything, just the work...that's what it was supposed to be anyway.

THIs there such a thing as a bad Parker novel? They all range from great to Brett Hart's excellence of execution kind of good. THE SCORE is more of a display of literary hardboiled power than a novel, but holy...is it AWESOME or what? A dozen professional thieves, an impossible job to pull (robbing an entire town) and our favourite obsessive compulsive crazy person/bank robber, feeling the call of the muse. No outward grudges or anything, just the work...that's what it was supposed to be anyway.

THE SCORE creates a memorable and let me lean on the word here, ME-MO-RA-BLE piece of unlikely action in the middle of Nowhere, USA. As the real motives behind the job emerges, THE SCORE turns from great to breathtaking, right when Parker is at work. THE SCORE is a thing of beauty, but it's even moreso if you've already established a relationship to the iconic character. As the series is winding up, Richard Stark keeps it fresh every time. Probably my favourite Parker grind so far....more

"The Score" is not my favorite Richard Stark novel, due that the characters are a tad dull to me, and there seems to be a lack of energy in the narrative. But saying that, there is no 'bad' Stark book. This book reads easy and is perfectly formalized in that it doesn't deeply disappoint, but for the Stark connoisseur this is the house brand instead of the expensive stuff. But still... It is Richard Stark, and there are no replacements for this writer.

I'm sure writing was not that easy for Donald Westlake, aka Richard Stark. However, he certainly made it seem that way. This is another in the Parker series, which details the exploits of Parker, a very business-like criminal who takes down, uh, scores in a very efficient fashion. The books are about 200 pages, don't overstay their welcome and chug along like a freight train on a track. Very similar to the Bond series by Ian Fleming.

In "The Score", Park is approached by an amateur about a huge dI'm sure writing was not that easy for Donald Westlake, aka Richard Stark. However, he certainly made it seem that way. This is another in the Parker series, which details the exploits of Parker, a very business-like criminal who takes down, uh, scores in a very efficient fashion. The books are about 200 pages, don't overstay their welcome and chug along like a freight train on a track. Very similar to the Bond series by Ian Fleming.

In "The Score", Park is approached by an amateur about a huge deal that at first appears unworkable. Much of what makes the book interesting is the narration of how Parker is slowly convinced that the job could be done. The necessary personnel are recruiting, and then the action begins. Once it does, it is very entertaining, and then is over fast.

These books are all about reading for entertainment. There is not a huge amount of depth to the characters, but they are engaging, especially Parker. The plot moves forward each chapter, keeping the reader turning pages. While Westlake is not exactly Tolstoy, he is a master who knows how to entertain and never overstays his welcome....more

I picked this one out b/c I was looking for a bedside read, and it was free on the Kindle. It wasn't particularly stunning, but it was fast-paced and tightly plotted. I'd read others in this series if they were as free as this one was.